Considering how a lot of Waypoint’s content is about talking about weird, interesting, flawed pieces of media that have a lot to say and impart on people, and how game journalism’s biggest fan of this show works here (What’s up Scoops?), let’s talk about Lost. How good it is, how bad it is, how weird it is, let’s talk about it all.

I love LOST. From the beginning to the end, I dunno. People say it took a dip in quality - maybe it did in the middle - but I dug everything. I buy the whole “it’s about the characters” schtick, though I also think enough of the mythology questions were answered. I find myself recommending the show to people and then recoiling in horror when they get mad at the finale: “They were all dead the whole time?” How do people not comprehend that ending?

Really, though, Giacchino deserves like 60% of the credit for how good LOST is.

I just finished writing a piece about it that’s due for release in the next month or so.

It remains my favourite show and was one of the primary factors in getting me writing and creating my own material.

I am one of the few who had no qualms with that ending (the penultimate episode is another matter) and think that it was a character driven show that maybe presented itself as a mystery show sometimes. This, in the end, was why some people baulked at the show as it went on.

Other shows in its wake though tried a similar tack (remember Flash Forward?) but put too much emphasis on the mystery/mythology and not on the characters.

All that said, I have recently been burning my way through Lindelof’s current show, The Leftovers. It plays with a lot of similar themes to Lost, but does it in a much more refined way. You can tell Lindelof has matured as a person and creator in the intervening years.

The show is criminally underwatched and is currently in its last (Season 3) series with 5 more episodes left. If it carries on its quality then I can see it toppling Lost as my favourite thing.

I agree that the characters and the music are the main draws, the way Giacchino’s score is another character informing the mood and meaning of each scene, and how everyone reacting to the weird stuff going on gives it its draw, but the mythology is what really sells it to me tbh. I feel like all the weird lore stuff helps elevate it to another level and keeps the whole “stuck on an island” premise from getting boring.

Through the Looking Glass has to be one of the best pieces of story/story telling I have ever experienced, so much is going on, there’s so much depth in all of the details, and the ramifications are so huge and well done.

I loved Lost so much when it was on, maybe just hit me at the right time (16/17 with all the time in the world at school to go deep on theories) but I enjoyed getting way too into it so much.

On a rewatch aspects really don’t hold up (and actually the end of the whole thing is probably better the second time around) but I’ve just started it again and I’m really excited about some of it.

Some of my favourite characters in all of TV in there and boy do they know how to do season finales. Like others have said, Through The Looking Glass is one of the best episodes of TV ever and I’m still crying about The Incident

The first season is a bit of a slog. Lindelof was going through a bout of depression at the time and it clearly influences the mood of the show. The first season also pretty much covers the events of the novel the show is based on.

Then in the 2nd series, they widen the scope and it becomes a show completely unafraid to take risks.